It was an awkwardly satisfying game party this week watching the Raps beat the Knicks. With the Raps running up a 28-point first-half lead (which mimicked the same fast start they had and blew away in their loss last Monday against the Pacers), there was a justifiable sense of nervousness throughout the entire second-half. But unlike Monday’s debacle in Indiana, the Raps kept their composure and came away with a crucial and well-earned road win over the Knicks. (BOH!!)

Like I said, it was an awkwardly satisfying RFF Raptors win!

Speaking of wins, let’s get to this week's RFF contests and prize winners!

First, everyone in attendance for the first-time got a special RR 4-sticker pack!

The free beer spoils of the “Raps Halftime Points Pool” went to *VALERIE and *SHAWN who both correctly guessed that the Raps would end the half with a whopping 67 points!

At the end of the 3rd quarter we played a difficult round of "RFF Head Coach Spelling Bee" in which both *STEVE and *MIKE (who both came out wearing their Raps jerseys) needed the audiences assistance to correctly spell “Vandeweghe” and “Popovich” in order to win themselves a couple of free beers!

With the joy of the Raps having ‘not lost the game’, we continued the RFF festivities with our Head Coachs Edition of "Who Dat B?" and "Umm… Who He Play For?" with Benny, Angie and Mike who all won more free beers and Raptors 15 Years anniversary t-shirts, which they all chose to trade for one of our special RFF mystery prizes! *BENNY took home this week’s RFF gag-gift with ‘what was in Realizar’s pocket’ which was a Pink Raptors Thong courtesy of @Altraps, via Hedo Turkoglu’s Thursday night’s club hopping photo shoot! Next, *ANGIE won herself a rare old school Raptors baseball jersey thanks to @Rapsfan. Finally, *MIKE finished this week’s RFF bar games by going again with @Altraps and winning a cool Raptors Fathead poster! (WICKED!!!)

If you've had a long work week like I've had than join us for some hard drinks and some comfort food in celebratation of the start of the weekend - and see if my bold guarantee that the Raptors Beat the Bucks tonight comes true!

The night started off a bit off-kilter when it was announced at game time that Bargnani was going to be sitting out the game due to some mysterious back injury. With that news and the TGIF stress release, this week’s RFF was all about having a fast and furious drink-fest, which we set in motion as soon as we arrived! As a result, I’m unable to provide many specific game details – I only recall looking up at the scoreboard every so often and seeing the Raps fall further behind every time in the first half. After halftime, the 3rd quarter was pretty much a blur! But do recall the 4th quarter being action-packed as I have clear (but faint) recollections of watching Hedo, Bosh and Jack make determined efforts to avoid what would have been a horrendous and monumental home loss. Thankfully, Hedo, Bosh and Jack ensured that that wasn’t going to be the case Friday night.

In completing this drunken haze of a review, let’s get to this week's RFF contests and prize winners:

Playing “Raps Halftime Points Pool”, free beers were won by *ALEX and *MIKE who both correctly guessed that the Raps would end the half with 48 points! It needs to be noted that the Raps came 1-point shy of winning Alex a pitcher of MGD - the Raps scored 101 points while Alex guessed that the Raps would finish the game with 102 points. (Oh so close!)

At halftime, everyone in attendance went nuts when we played the RFF Premiere Edition of “Raptors Fan Feud!” with *ZARAR and *MATT for free beers. Just like the TV game show Family Feud, when asked: ‘Who is that all-time Steals leader in Raptors franchise history?’, *ZARAR slapped-in first and had the correct answer: Doug Christie (734)! In response to our consolation question: ‘Who has the second most Steals in franchise history?’ *MATT also came up with the correct answered: MoPete (552)! (BOH!)

At the end of the 3rd quarter we played another round of "RFF Spelling Bee" in which *TILMAN correctly spelled “I.l.y.a.s.o.v.a.” and won himself a Toronto Raptors Fathead poster!

After celebrating watching the Raps victory, we continued the RFF festivities with our Rookies Edition of "Who Dat B?" and "Umm… Who He Play For?" with Matt, Gilan and Alex and who all won more free beers and Raptors 15 Years anniversary t-shirts, which they all chose to trade for one of our special RFF mystery prizes! *MATT took home a Special Edition Michael Jordan commemorative Slam magazine courtesy of @Arsenalist! Next, *GILAN won himself a fitted stylin’ Raptors Hat thanks to @Rapsfan. Finally, *ALEX with the locked-down help of *MARIE finished this week’s RFF bar games by choosing @Altraps and winning another cool Raptors Fathead poster! (WICKED!!!)

Big props to our RFF game players and prize winners! I also wanna thank everyone who showed up this week!

Because of the NBA schedule makers, RFF will be on hiatus for the next 3 weeks. (Bullshit!) As such, we’ll be returning to SCC after the All-Star break on February 19 when the Raptors play the NBA’s d-league team, the NJ Nets!!

In the meatime, please be good. But because I know most of you won't, I say, please be careful.

LET’S GO RAPS FANS! (LET'S GO RAPS!!)

Last edited by James Ballswin (Realizar); Sun Jan 24th, 2010 at 12:27 PM.

RAPTOR FAN FRIDAYS <-> Raps vs Nets <-> Feb. 19/8pm

RAPTOR FAN FRIDAYS is the original Toronto Raptors game party presented by the Raptors Republic at the famous Sports Centre Cafe. Join us for every Friday night Raptors game as we bring together fellow hardcore Raptors “fan-addicts” to unite the local Raps fan community and create a fun & rowdy ACC upper-bowl type crowd in the best sports bar in Toronto!

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KEEP THEM WINS COMING!

It's been almost a month since the last Friday night Raps game and the last RFF game party, so this Friday at SCC is gonna feel like a celebratory home coming reunion among good friends and fellow Raps fan-addicts!

Since the last RFF, we've watched the Raps continue to take solid strides in becoming a cohesive team unit and a serious playoff foe. We've also witnessed the 'heroic' comeback of Reggie "Ball Grabber" Evans, the masking of the legendary Hedo Turkoglu, the world stage slam dunking demonstrations of Demar DeRozan and our very own Chris Bosh's imminent recognition as a bonified NBA superstar. Yes indeed, things are looking really good in the Republic right now!

However, these good times will only continue so long as the Raps continue to pull out good wins against lesser yet capable opponents like the New Jersey SwampNets - a divisional opponent playing through one of the worst NBA season ever. A road win against the SwampNets is an absolute must. Whether it be a blowout victory or an ugly win, they all count as a "W" in the overall standings.

The theme for this Friday's RFF is gonna be "Fan-Addict Reunion Night"!

We hope all of you remember how to get to SCC cuz it ain't no party without all ye Raps faithful!

This weeks’s RFF “Fan-Addicts Reunion Night” game party was all that! A bunch of familiar fan-addict faces came out, along with some new ones for the first time. And best of all, the Raps put on a solid 48 min game of team-first basketball without a hurting Chris Bosh in the line-up.

We gave everyone in attendance last night the chance to win our first RFF Raptors Tickets giveaway for the Feb. 20 game against the Wizards (courtesy of RAPTORMAN.CA) by making the tickets the grand prize of our “Raps Halftime Points Pool” & “Raps Total Points Pool” contests! (We’ll get to the results in a bit).

In the 2nd quarter, Rory joined me on stage to play a game of “Raps Trivia” for which his question was “What year and what pick was Hedo drafted in by the Sacramento Kings?” After taking a few close but incorrect stabs at the questions, Rory needed the audiences help before correctly answering that he was drafted in 2000 in the first round with the 16th pick overall! With that answer, *RORY won a Toronto Raptors Fathead Poster!

When the first-half came to an end, the Raps went into the locker room with a 15-point lead having finished the half with 56 points. However, of the over two dozen fan-addicts in attendance, *NO ONE correctly had 56 in the Halftime Points Pool, which meant that our Raps Ticket Giveaway was going to come down to the Raps Total Points at the end of the game!

As part of our halftime festivities, we played the first official game of our new halftime RFF party game of “Raptors Fan Feud” with two sexy ladies: Meg and Jessa! Our Feud question this week was “Who are the top-5 career point scorers in New Jersey Nets franchise history?”
The correct answers were as interesting as the incorrect ones! Going back and forth between Jessa and Meg and the eager audience, the Feud ended in a draw. When the answers we’re revealed, the top-5 scorers in Nets history are: 1-Buck Williams (10,440); 2-Vince Carter (8,834); 3-Richard Jefferson (8,507); 4-Jason Kidd (7,373); and, 5-John Williamson (7,202). For their spirited participation, *MEG and *JESSA each won a Toronto Raptors Toque!

As the 3rd quarter came to an end, the Raps still held an 11-point lead, so we decided to giveaway a free beer and an MGD baseball hat by playing another game of “Raptors Trivia”. For this round, I was joined on stage with *STAV who was asked this trivia question “Which Raptor holds the record for the most 3pt shot attempts in a season?” On his own and with the help of the crowd, nearly every 3-point shooter in Raps history was incorrectly guessed before the correct player was identified: Damon Stoudamire, who jacked-up 496 3-pt FGA in 1996-97!

As the game came to end, with Bosh Out & Rasho In the Raps won handily. But perhaps more exciting was the result of our “Raps Total Points Pool” for the Game Tickets! With about two minutes left in the game, the Raps had 104 points (which happened to be the total points chosen by both myself and Jessa – and had we won we we’re set to go to the game together!) . But our plan fell through after Jack got fouled going to the rim for a missed lay-up; and at the FT line, he hit both his attempts and the Raps finished with 106 points.

However, just as with the Halftime points pool, of the over two-dozen entries in the "Raps Total Points Pool", no one guessed 106 points (or 107 points), so the closest guess was by Russ who had 105 points. And as the closest guess (but not the correct guess), Russ became the finalist and the sole chance of winning the tickets by playing “Who Scores Next!” (We’ll get to that in a bit).

With Russ as our Ticket Giveaway finalist, we continued the RFF festivities by playing "Who Dat B?" and "Who He Play For?" with Scott, Argun and Shish who all won more free beers and ‘Toronto Raptors 15 Years anniversary t-shirts’. And for the very first time ever, *SCOTT decided to keep the Raps 15 Years t-shirt! (Unprecedented! Lol!) As for Argun and Shish, they all chose to trade their t-shirts for one of our special RFF mystery prizes! *ARGUN took home this week’s RFF gag-gift with a ‘Chris Bosh First Ink Poster’ courtesy of @Altraps. Finally, *Shish won a ‘Toronto Raptors Car Decal Sticker’ thanks to @Raps Fan.

Last but definitely not least, we ended the night playing “Who Scores Next!” with Russ for the pair of game tickets. While watching the Hawks vs. Suns game, Russ identified the 5 players on the court for the Suns (Dragic, Hill, Frye, Dudley & Lopez) and was given 3 chances to guess “Who Scores Next!” With his 1st guess, Russ went with Hill who did not score the Suns next basket. With his 2nd guess, he went with Frye who also did not score next. With his 3rd and final guess (which coincided with the start of the fourth quarter) we gave Russ a 3/5 chance of winning “Who Scores Next!” by allowing him to pick three players and he chose: Dragic, Hill and Amundson (who replaced Lopez on the court). And in the next possession, we all watched as Russ sweated it out and witnessed the next Suns basket unfortunately being scored by Dudley! Having lost all three rounds of “Who Scores Next!” and his chance as the Points Pool Finalist to win the pair of game tickets to the Wizards game, we left it up to the crowd to decide what to do: Play a final RFF party game of “Suns Total Points Pool”, or, give the tickets to Russ. And in a unanimous vote the crowd decided give the tickets to *RUSS!

As always, we want to thank all of the Raps fan-addicts who came out to party at RFF this week!

We also want to give many kudos to all this week’s RFF prize-winners!

Most of all, we want to give massive props to our friend and trusted Raps ticket source, RAPTORMAN STEVE, for donating the pair of Raptors game tickets for us to giveaway!

We’re already excited about next week’s RFF on February 26 when the Raps play arguably the best team and the best player in the league: Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers!

(BOH!)

Game Party Pics (thanks Adam!)

Realizar playing "Raptors Fan Feud" with Jessa and Meg!

Realizar and Russ (holding his winnings!)

Last edited by James Ballswin (Realizar); Sat Feb 20th, 2010 at 09:27 PM.

RAPTOR FAN FRIDAYS <-> Cavs vs Raps <-> Feb. 26/7pm

RAPTOR FAN FRIDAYS is the original Toronto Raptors game party presented by the Raptors Republic at the famous Sports Centre Cafe. Join us for every Friday night Raptors game as we bring together fellow hardcore Raptors “fan-addicts” to unite the local Raps fan community and create a fun & rowdy ACC upper-bowl type crowd in the best sports bar in Toronto!

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WILL LIGHTNING STRIKE TWICE?

A game against arguably the best team in the league with arguably the best player and favourite to be this year’s Most Valuable Player; with a guaranteed future hall of fame player who’s nearing the end of his career; with two former fan-favourite Raptors, and now with a newly acquired two-time All-Star who was in fact drafted by our franchise and immediately traded for the most infamous player in our team’s young history… WOW!!! All of these remarkable storylines make this week’s RFF game party one the best of the year!

Even though our sensational season opening win against LBJ, Shaq, AP, Jamario & Co. was (already) four months ago, there's absoluely no doubt whatsoever that the Cavaliers still remember this loss and have been eagerly awaiting to savagely avenge it this Friday.

Because this may be Shaquille O’Neal’s final game ever in Toronto, the theme for this week’s RFF game party is gonna be “Hall-of-Fame Night”.

The thought of the Raps beating the Cavs at the ACC again is somewhat like wishing for lightning to striking twice. Can it happen? Will it happen? And where will you be if it does?

Raps fan-addicts, come out and join us at SCC for this special Friday night game party!

As a subplot to tomorrow's game, we've had five Raptor Fan Friday wins in a row (going waaay back to Dec.18/09 vs. the Nets); I'm sure we can will the Raps to their sixth straight Friday night victory!

Due to the Team Canada men's Olympic semi-final hockey game coinciding at the same time with tonight's Raptors game, we are cancelling this week's RFF game party.

Since this rare Olympic hockey game will naturally have precedent over the Raps game, SCC will be forced to give the AUDIO preference to the Olympic game - which means we will not be able to put on our customary entertaining RFF game party.

We apologies for this sudden announcement. However, RFF will be back next Friday when the Raps take on our hated divisional rival New York K-Nicks.

But in the event the Raps game extends beyond 9:30, we do not want to have to switch the audio off before the game is in fact done. Additionally, much of our RFF game party entertainment extends well-after the end of Raps games, which won't be possible tonight. And given the fact that this is a TEAM CANADA Olympic elimination game, it was agreed that cancelling this week's game party was appropriate.

Regardless, I have been assured by the SCC mgmt that if/when a Friday night Raptors game coincides with a Friday night Leafs game, the Raptors game (and Raptor fans/RFF) will always have the audio and seating preference at SCC.

I was really looking forward to watching the game with some fans tonight.

So was I. This was a really tough decision, but I think it was the right one.

But Drizz, trust me when I say that next week's RFF will be the best one ever! Starting next week, we're adding a new, long-awaited special feature to RFF that'll make our game parties over the top! (No joke!)

Last edited by James Ballswin (Realizar); Fri Feb 26th, 2010 at 02:03 PM.